I am wondering how common injuries to the hand/fingers are, to those whom are "everyday" cooks? I got my first nasty slice today - nothing
Aside from the miscellaneous knife cuts, there are a couple of novelty cuts that used to be common. One is a bagle slice when people try to slice a bagel while holding it in one hand and the knife in the other. I believe the cut in in the web between the thumb and forefinger.
Another, not related to cooking per se, happened when someone (usually a housewife) was washing a glass drinking glass by sticking the dishcloth and her hand inside the glass and turning with some pressure to clean. If the glass was weak it would break and cut her. This happened to a friend of mine about 30 yr ago and the doctor knew exactly how she did it before she said anything!
I suspect the incidence of this one has decreased as dishwashers became more common.
Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:19:05 GMT, [email hidden] (Curly
Sue) said:
Another, not related to cooking per se, happened when someone (usually a housewife) was washing a glass drinking glass by sticking the dishcloth and her hand inside the glass and turning with some pressure to clean. If the glass was weak it would break and cut her. This happened to a friend of mine about 30 yr ago and the doctor knew exactly how she did it before she said anything!
I suspect the incidence of this one has decreased as dishwashers became more common.
We have a set of deadly glasses (tall, narrow and very prone to breakage when you wash them) and they did exactly that to me. I put my hand inside to reach down to the bottom of the tall glass and clean it, and the glass broke and sliced me. OWIE! So yes, it still happens... I bought a long-handled sponge just for glass-cleaning after that!
Another, not related to cooking per se, happened when someone (usually a housewife) was washing a glass drinking glass by sticking the dishcloth and her hand inside the glass and turning with some pressure to clean. If the glass was weak it would break and cut her. This happened to a friend of mine about 30 yr ago and the doctor knew exactly how she did it before she said anything!
I suspect the incidence of this one has decreased as dishwashers became more common.
We have a set of deadly glasses (tall, narrow and very prone to breakage when you wash them) and they did exactly that to me. I put my hand inside to reach down to the bottom of the tall glass and clean it, and the glass broke and sliced me. OWIE! So yes, it still happens... I bought a long-handled sponge just for glass-cleaning after that!
I've had this happen twice. The first time was in 1984. The second time was in 2004. The first time required ten stitches to close the gap between the thumb and index finger of my right hand. Last year's sliced the crud out of the side of the same hand. It created a four inch stab/slice that gaped wider than anything I've ever seenm, and it's lucky that this part of the hand is more flesh and fat than muscle and has almost no connective tissue to destroy. It oozed fresh blood for half an hour, and needed twenty subcuticular and twenty external stitches. There is a ferocious scar there.
BTW, the first time I was washing a glass. Didn't learn my lesson, you say? Balderdash! I never stuck my hand into another glass or jar again. This is what happened last year: the glass struck the center divider of my porcelain sink -- it lost momentum when it broke, but the hand that was lowering it into the sink didn't slow down a whit and impailed itself on a terrible shard resembling the tip of an iceberg.
